Christmas Phobia in Israel

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It’s well-known that Jewish groups and activists have been the main force behind the war on Christmas and in generally getting Christianity out of the public square. So it’s no surprise that in Israel, Christmas fares even worse. In Jerusalem a large group of Heredim are threatening to boycott a fancy shopping mall. Why? Because it looks too Christmasy.

The ads – titled “Is Jerusalem becoming Christian?” – were signed by the Rabbis’ Committee for the Sanctity of Jerusalem. They stated that “if this idol worship is not removed immediately, we will declare a consumer boycott against the mall …”

The location of the mall near the Western Wall forces passersby to “real paganism”. Read more

Merry Christmas from the Folks at TOO!

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The Picower settlement: Racketeering Rewarded

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At The Daily Beast Allan Dodds Frank has supplied a valuable perspective on the Picower settlement – although you need to be alert to see it.

“Payday for Madoff Victims” (December 18 2010) first of all refutes Barbara Picower’s tendentious assertion:

“I want to underscore the fact that neither the Trustee nor the U.S. Attorney has charged him with any illegal conduct.”

Picower could not be charged for a simple reason — he conveniently died.

Asked about Picower’s role in Madoff’s scheme and whether the settlement cleared Picower’s name, U.S. Attorney Bharara said, “Mr. Picower passed away a year ago and so the question of whether he had a role—as a criminal matter—is now moot.” Bharara refused to say more… Read more

George Bush: “The First Jewish President”

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Michael Kinsley’s review of Bush’s memoir has this tidbit:

When Bush called for a new Palestinian leadership, Barbara Bush the elder (“Mother,” he invariably calls her) rang up to say, “How’s the first Jewish president doing?” Maybe I’m deficient in humor, but I don’t see why this is funny, as her son clearly believes it to be. I might even find it alarming if Bush didn’t crowd this book with ­maybe-you-had-to-be-there witticisms.

Philip Weiss writes that the comment is

a little window into the important mystery of how the realist [G. H. W] Bush absorbed the shocking reality of his neoconnized son — after all, a question of huge historical import. I.e by gentle ribbing, in the hope that it might eventually make a difference. Perhaps it even did; Bush didn’t attack Iran. Jeffrey Goldberg reported that he began to call Kristol and Krauthammer “the bomber boys” in the last years of his presidency. I’m a little surprised that Kinsley would have thought it alarming. Read more

Roissy on Anti-Semitism

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For those who aren’t in the know, Roissy is the most popular blogger in the “game” community. “Game” is the art of seducing girls. While there’s nothing inherently immoral about learning how to succeed with the ladies, the scene is predictably vulgar and often bilious toward women. This post about Roissy isn’t intended to be an implied endorsement of him in particular or “pick-up artists” in general.

From time to time, Roissy lapses from his main topic and offers his opinions on politics and culture, betraying his HBD-aware worldview. It’s unsurprising that he reads Steve Sailer, given that a serious study of the innate differences between genders leads down a slippery slope to studying the innate differences between populations. His most recent post, The Modern Definition of Anti-Semitism [cache], confirms that many of our ideas are gradually catching on with a wider audience.

He begins the post with the following definition of anti-Semitism: Read more

Joe Lieberman’s Jewish reasons for opposing “Don’t ask, don’t tell”

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The Daily Beast reports that Joe Lieberman “worked tirelessly in rounding up enough votes for the Senate to repeal the don’t ask don’t tell policy.” What’s interesting is his motivation: ““I’m a Jewish-American, a member of a minority group raised from the earliest part of my life to be deeply grateful for all the rights and opportunities and freedom afforded Americans.”

That reminds of a quote from Charles Silberman’s A Certain People in the chapter on immigration in The Culture of Critique:

American Jews are committed to cultural tolerance because of their belief—one firmly rooted in history—that Jews are safe only in a society acceptant of a wide range of attitudes and behaviors, as well as a diversity of religious and ethnic groups. It is this belief, for example, not approval of homosexuality, that leads an overwhelming majority of U.S. Jews to endorse “gay rights” and to take a liberal stance on most other so-called “social” issues. Read more

The Picower Madoff settlement: A $7.2 Billion Whitewash

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On Friday the astonishing news broke that the estate of Jeffrey M. Picower had agreed to cough up $7.2 billion to the liquidator of the Bernard Madoff fraud and the Federal Government. (See Zachary A. Goldfarb, “Madoff investor’s widow to return money,” The Washington Post, Dec. 18, 2010.)

This news was astonishing because the amount — including a $2.2 Million payment to the Feds — was said to be “the largest single forfeiture in American judicial history.” It represents a considerable 35% of the amount thought to have been paid into the Madoff Ponzi scheme, raising the prospect of material compensation to some of the victims. And also because the Picower lawyer had been freely telling the press earlier this year he expected to settle for only $2 billion. All apparently was not well on the Picower legal front in 2010.

What was not astonishing was the rush to present what was in fact proof that Picower was a huge looter of the Madoff victims as evidence of noblesse oblige on the part of his widow, and to cover up what actually happened. CNN reports that

Picower withdrew $7.8 billion from Madoff’s investment firm since the 1970s, even though he only deposited $619 million, according to the trustee. Read more